An Unusual Adventure
by sonicblue99
Summary: Rose and the Doctor get captured on an alien planet, in the middle of a warzone, which has lasting consequences. SPOILERS for Parting of the Ways.
1. Prologue--Something's Gone Wrong

A/N:Hi everybody, this is my first time writing a Doctor who story, I hope you like it! Please review; even criticism is welcomed!

All characters are property of the BBC; I own nothing but the plot.

I'm also on Teaspoon as sonicblue99.

Prologue-Something's Gone Wrong

"Hold on!" the Doctor shouted gleefully, grinning like mad as his ship threw her passengers this way and that. Rose shrieked as they went through a particularly nasty bit of turbulence, causing the ship to shudder and shake more violently than usual.

"What's wrong with her, Doctor? It isn't normally this chaotic of a ride!" Rose shouted to be heard over the wheezing of the engines and other various noises of the misbehaving time machine.

"I don't know, she's avoiding all of my attempts to communicate with her! It's almost as if she's resisting me, like she won't land!" the Doctor yelled back, worried about the TARDIS now.

"I'm going to try to hack in manually, see if I can reset the coordinates and shut off the inner time loop. Maybe that's what's messing with her flight pattern programming!" As soon as the Doctor explained his newly formed plan to Rose, who honestly had no idea what he meant by that, everything suddenly went silent. The hectic shaking and big shudders suddenly stopped. Then, on top of that, all of the lights went off. All of them. They weren't even left with the emergency lights that should have turned on.

"Doctor?" Rose said quietly into the darkness, feeling rather foolish.

"Right here," he said at a normal volume, practically in her ear, causing Rose to jump.

"I can't even see my hand in front of my face," she said, ignoring his earlier effort to scare her. For now.

"Here, let me get the sonic screwdriver. Fortunately, it has a setting for giving off light, much brighter than a torch could ever get. Ah, here we go! Setting 3486-B, used for giving off light and ultraviolet rays. Don't worry, nothing harmless, just a few stray molecules of radiation, but nothing even remotely toxic. Well, I say nothing,-"

"Doctor!" Rose interrupted him a little harshly, cutting off his random babbling.

"What?!" he said, exasperated and a little hurt.

"Listen! We've landed," she said, a little softer this time.

"What? Where?" He ran over to the other side of the console, carefully navigating the way with only the rather weak light of the screwdriver. After staring at the readings for a few seconds, the Doctor finally spoke.

"That's impossible," he whispered.

"What, what is it?" Rose asked, feeling somewhat nervous.

"We've been pulled to the other side of the universe, and that's impossible since there's only one thing in existence that has the power to do that so quickly: another TARDIS."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	2. Chapter 1--Allons-y

Chapter 1-Allons-y!

"Wait- what did you say? Another TARDIS?" Rose asked, unsure if she had heard him right.

"Yes, you heard me right, another TARDIS," the Doctor replied testily, agitated. Rose heard him mumbling under his breath as he typed madly, hunched over the console. "No, no, no, no, no…" he muttered as he ran a hand through his gravity-defying hair, making it stand up even more, though Rose wasn't sure how that was possible considering its current state.

"But there's none left, you told me they were all destroyed in the Time War," she said, stunned.

"How is it that we could be drifting in space one minute, only to have been pulled to some random planet the next? Where are we, anyway?" she questioned, having been unable to read the scanner, seeing as it was written in Old High Gallifreyan. For some reason Rose couldn't fathom, the TARDIS never translated the Time Lord's native language.

"We're near the planet Kahler, which is very bad news for us if we landed when I think we landed."

Suddenly there was a huge explosion outside, which rocked the TARDIS, knocking both of them off of their feet. Luckily, the Doctor avoided hitting his head against the console, but ended up smashing his elbow into the grating on the floor.

_"That's going to leave a mark,"_ he thought to himself. He groaned as he sat up, and then leapt to his feet, always full of energy.

"Rose, you all right?" he yelled over to her while going over to check the readings off of the console; he was clearly expecting her to also jump to her feet, inquiring about what had happened. When she failed to respond, the Doctor glanced over to where he thought she must have fallen. He was greeted with the sight of Rose lying motionless on the floor next to the railing, with her eyes closed and a small pool of blood around her head, soaking her hair.

Heart in his throat, the Doctor immediately abandoned his current task of deciphering the coordinates and rushed over to her. He knew that should have been the first thing he'd done, not fiddle with machinery and wires; but he wasn't expecting her to be hurt. She had always been the fighter, never giving up and giving strength to others when they had none. Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth! To think she'd been severely injured from something as simple as an explosion, why, that was preposterous! They faced explosions practically every other day. Sure, not without injury to them both, but it had always been minor cuts or bruises, nothing ever _really _serious.

He smoothly scooped her up into his arms, careful not to rub up against her head near the injury. The TARDIS helpfully placed the infirmary right off the console room, so he could get her checked out as soon as possible to avoid further damage. Even though he was in a hurry, the Doctor took the time to place her on the examination table gently, making sure she was comfortable. Or would be, rather, when she woke up, seeing as she was unconscious.

The Doctor rifled around in his pockets a bit for the sonic screwdriver before taking off his coat and throwing it over a chair in the corner. Using the sonic, the Doctor was able to determine that the injury was not, in fact, life-threatening, but would still require care, and she probably shouldn't be running for her life anytime in the next few days.

He gently cleaned and dressed the wound, and it was only when he was very nearly finished that she moaned and stirred.

"Hello," the Doctor said cheerily, as Rose opened her eyes blearily and looked at him.

"Doctor? How'd I get in here?" Rose asked, confused. "Last thing I remember we were talking about Ka-something-or-other and then there was this big explosion." She tried to sit up, but the Doctor gently pushed her back down.

"Hey, easy there. We don't want you opening up that rather nasty head wound you have there," the Doctor said. Rose reluctantly leaned back, but not without some passing comments about how she felt perfectly fine, not even a headache, and how he was being overprotective.

"The reason you feel fine is that I gave you a mild sedative and painkiller. It'll wear off in an hour or so, and you'll have a painful bump on the back of your head for a couple of weeks, but hopefully nothing permanently damaging. Follow my finger," the Doctor instructed, moving it back and forth. Rose obliged, knowing it would go quicker if she didn't complain and let him do his thing.

"Good thing, you don't have a concussion, so you can get up in a few minutes or so. _Slowly._"

Rose refrained from rolling her eyes. Barely.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

After a few minutes of needling from Rose, the Doctor agreed to let her come with him back into the console room to try to help him to figure out the current mystery of the TARDIS's sudden jump. He was not a patient man, and Rose knew it. He seemed to constantly be in motion, always running around or talking nonstop about some random thing that had come to mind. Today was no exception; Rose couldn't help smiling about the way he ran from section to section, flipping switches and talking to himself about spatial-temporal hyperlinks and inter-dimensional transmats and other things Rose didn't even try to understand.

Suddenly another explosion sounded around the TARDIS, though not as near this time, and the Doctor stopped what he was doing.

"I can't move the TARDIS without possibly damaging her; she's fragile enough as it is what with the jump. We should probably go outside and look for shelter away from this damn war zone. As much as I hate to leave her in the state she's in, we would be much safer away from here."

"But nothing can get through the TARDIS doors, she'd protect us."

"Not here," the Doctor said grimly, "that's been disabled by whoever caused the jump, and outside they're fighting with particle guns. If a stray beam hits her, it could severely damage her; maybe even shorten her circuits so that we won't be able to fly her out of this mess. I'd rather it not come to that. The way they target is with heat signatures, so us leaving is ultimately a good thing, as it will draw fire away from her, and I can mask our individual heat signatures so that we're not in immediate danger unless we're spotted by a soldier."

"Okay," Rose readily agreed, knowing it was by far a better option than sitting here watching the Doctor go half mad with frustration.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The TARDIS caused two bags to materialize on top of the captain's chair, packed with everything they might need on their "journey" to find a safe place to spend the night. The painkiller Rose had taken was starting to wear off, and she was getting a terrible headache, but she refrained from saying anything.

Once they were all ready to go, the Doctor whispered, "Sorry, old girl," and patted the door. He got an answering hum in response, assuring him it was alright. Opening the doors, they stepped out onto the hard, sandy ground and were greeted by a frigid blast of wind that stung Rose's eyes, making her tear up and blink. She shivered, used to the normally warm temperature inside the TARDIS. She wished she had chosen her warm coat instead of opting for just her sweatshirt, but it was too late for that now that they were a fair distance away from the time machine. She crossed her arms and followed the Doctor towards what looked like a small copse of trees, but she couldn't be sure because it was so dark out.

After two hours of trudging along, Rose was cold, tired, and downright miserable. Her headache had been growing ever since leaving the TARDIS and the biting wind and sand constantly in her eyes weren't helping. Though she would never admit it, she was relieved when the Doctor stopped near a large rock formation by a hill. It provided excellent cover from the ever-present wind and was a good hiding place should the battle move closer. At the moment it was far away, but not so far you couldn't hear the sounds of gunfire and shouts. She couldn't imagine what it must be like down there, amid all that bloodlust and fear.

"What are they fighting about, Doctor?" Rose asked, curious, while they set up the tent the TARDIS had given them in the Doctor's pack. It was, of course, bigger on the inside, and, in addition to that, reflected light so it was nearly impossible to see unless you knew it was there.

"It's an invasion of the planet by the Zygons. They want the planet as their own; their original planet was destroyed in a stellar explosion. The Kahlers are holding out pretty well though, the war's been going on for eight years with no sign of stopping," the Doctor informed her, with a bitter tone that Rose knew meant he disliked the violence that was happening.

"The Zygons are a rather nasty race, wouldn't want to run into them. They've got poisonous barbs all over, so it hurts just to touch one," he continued as they finished putting up the tent. "There, all done," the Doctor remarked, reviewing their work. Deciding it passed his test, he climbed inside, with Rose following behind him.

"It's kind of strange to think that I'm used to all this," Rose commented as she stood up inside the spacious room, glancing around her.

"Used to what?"The Doctor wanted to know.

"Used to all of the strange things that happen to us on a daily basis, like 'bigger on the inside' and being chased and outsmarting all the aliens that are out to get us," Rose clarified, laughing. She set down her pack by the door as the Doctor attempted to cook dinner. "It's strange to think that if I hadn't met you in that basement all that time ago, I'd just be sitting around, doing nothing with my life except working, eating and sleeping, over and over again."

"I'm glad I met you too. You saved me, Rose, saved me from becoming dark and angry, and I won't easily forget that." They sat down at the kitchen table with their plates. Dinner was some sort of meat that didn't spoil when left unrefrigerated, a leafy green vegetable, and multi-colored rice that seemed to sparkle. Rose ate it without complaint, noting that it was quite good.

After talking for a little while after dinner, both human and time lord were yawning profusely, the walk having tired them both out.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Rose finally said, standing up and stretching, "as soon as I find it."

"I'll show you where it is," the Doctor offered, also standing. "I'm feeling a little tuckered out myself; must be getting old," he joked.

After saying goodnight, they both went to their respective bedrooms and washed up. The Doctor fell asleep quickly, which was unusual for him, considering he had a time lord metabolism. However, after an hour of tossing and turning, Rose finally fell into a restless sleep, punctuated with flashes of dreams like photographs of nightmares.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	3. Chapter 2--Dreaming

Chapter 2-Dreaming

Rhythmic pounding, flashes of shining steel, alone in the dark, a gravelly voice accompanied by a bright blue light staring at her, the constant ticking of clockwork and being strapped down, ghosts and demons and other indescribable monsters-

Finding herself tightly restrained, Rose started thrashing about trying to get free. She sure as hell wasn't going down without a fight. Where was the Doctor? Suddenly something was on top of her, practically smothering her, and she worked even harder at breaking out. Rose finally managed to work her hands out of the confines of her prison and started recklessly hitting the thing on top of her in an effort to escape from this nightmarish situation.

"Rose? Rose! Wake up! Rose, you need to wake up!" someone was frantically shouting. It seemed like it was coming from the thing on top of her, which struck her as very strange. It also sounded a lot like-

"Doctor?" Rose asked warily, confused, and momentarily stopped fighting whatever was crushing her, just in case it actually was him. However, she knew appearances could be deceiving, and remained tensed up, ready to go back into fighting mode at the slightest chance it wasn't actually him, but an impostor.

"Rose! Rose, it was just a dream. Only a dream, nothing's going to hurt you. I'm right here," the Doctor said soothingly.

"Oh!" Rose gasped as the settings around her dissolved to become her now brightly lit bedroom in the borrowed tent. The Doctor was laying on top of her in a rather undignified manner; she suspected he had had to hold her down in order to make sure she didn't hurt herself or fall out of the bed with her wild attacks. "Only a dream," she gasped out, heart still racing from adrenaline.

The Doctor rolled off of her clumsily with a small 'oof' and sat on the bed next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?" the Doctor offered, seeing the terrified look in her eyes that was the remaining fear of whatever had been haunting her while she slept.

Rose simply leaned into him, seeking comfort from the man she knew best and would trade anything for in a heartbeat. The Doctor hugged her while she sobbed quietly, more than willing to sit there for the rest of the night.

Eventually Rose calmed down and fell back asleep, leaving the Doctor in a pickle. He couldn't move without waking up Rose, since she had drifted off while still lying on top of him. He wasn't uncomfortable; quite the opposite, in fact. It could even be said he was too comfortable. He just didn't do domestic, and this was pleasing him far too much, he thought. 'Stop it, stop it right there,' he chided himself, knowing this could never work. Oh, this was going to be a very long night.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Rose awoke to the feeling of being held. This frightened her for an instant, until she felt the slim frame and slightly cooler skin beneath her, and relaxed, knowing it was the Doctor. But why was the Doctor in her temporary room in the first place? She thought for a moment, and suddenly the events of last night came rushing back to her. She remembered the terrifying dreams she'd had, and, with some embarrassment, fighting the Doctor before he'd been able to wake her up.

"Hello, sleepyhead!" a familiar voice greeted her. She craned her head back to look at him and saw that well-known, manic grin he always had. Her eyes traveled up farther and she was surprised to see a dark bruise blossoming on his right cheek.

She sat up quickly. "Oh! What happened? Oh no, did I do that last night?" she asked, horrified. She reached up to lightly brush the discolored area. "I didn't hurt you anywhere else, did I?"

"Oh, this? Nah, that's nothing. Doesn't even hurt, and it'll be gone by tomorrow. Time lord metabolism, remember?" he said, brushing it off like that sort of thing happened practically every day. Well, to be fair, it did happen every day. With a lifestyle like his, he supposed, it must be inevitable.

Rose pursed her lips, knowing he was downplaying it. Men. All of them were the same. They could get completely beat up, and not say anything; they would get a simple cold, and suddenly they would be on their deathbeds. With a bruise that size, she knew it must have been hurting at least a little.

Anyway, if he wanted to ignore it, that was fine with her. She knew how obstinate he could get about the smallest things.

She stretched and rolled out of bed. Gathering up her clothes, Rose walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Glancing in the mirror, she did a double take.

She was a mess! With dark bags under her eyes from the sleepless night she'd had, and hair matted with dried blood, it was no wonder she felt so poor. Well, there was nothing a long, hot shower and a fresh cup of tea couldn't fix.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The Doctor grinned when he heard the shower turn on. He had figured that would be the first thing she would do. And she deserved it, poor thing. Between the 12-mile walk yesterday and the terrible night she'd had, it made sense that she wasn't feeling too well. A shower would be just the thing to cheer her up.

After a few minutes, he also got up, and walked into the kitchen to start preparing breakfast. As he beat the eggs, he thought about the events of the previous night.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Last Night

His eyes snapped open. What had changed to wake him up? He lay quietly for a moment, listening to the silent phantoms of the night. Then he heard it. A small sound, undetectable to human ears, but not him. It was a small whimpering, almost like someone was crying-

Rose! He jumped out of bed, not even bothering to throw on a robe, and flung open the door. Racing down the many corridors, he cursed the fact that they were so long. It just took him that much longer to reach the human he cared about most.

He reached her room and opened the door. Peering into the darkness of her room, he saw Rose curled up tightly into a ball with the covers wrapped tightly around her. She was shaking, calling his name over and over, in obvious distress and having a terrifying nightmare. He rushed over to the bed and lightly shook her to wake her up.

"Rose? Rose! Wake up! Rose, you need to wake up," he said gently, trying not to frighten her.

Suddenly she started to toss and turn, causing the covers to wrap tighter around her. She fought them more, the covers constricting her even further. Her flailing arms caught him once or twice, and man, was she strong. He felt sorry for anybody that got in her way.

"Rose, wake up!" he shouted, pinning her to the bed to stop her frantic struggles in case she hurt herself.

"Doctor?" she suddenly said, opening her eyes. She sounded terrified, and the Doctor knew she wasn't fully awake yet.

"Rose! Rose, it was just a dream. Only a dream, nothing's going to hurt you. I'm right here," the Doctor said calmly.

"Oh!" she gasped out, having woken up fully by now. The Doctor realized, with some embarrassment, that he was sprawled across her. He sat up on the bed, next to her.

"It was only a dream," she whispered, sitting up. The Doctor thought that, just for a moment, she looked more alone and lost than he had ever known her to be before. Then she looked up at him and he saw the familiar defiance flash in her eyes before settling back into something calmer.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he offered, knowing sometimes that helped to chase away the ghosts of the night. She simply leaned into him. He held her while she cried, comforting her with just his presence. She finally slipped back into sleep, but within a minute was stirring again.

This time the Doctor put his hands on either side of her temples, and went into her mind. He would normally never do this without permission, but he didn't want to have to wake her up again. She needed the rest.

Her mind was like a long corridor, with doors going off in every direction, each containing some sort of memory, with the most recent being at the front. He tried not to look in any doors as he passed them, knowing she wasn't there to 'close' them. The whole thing had a sort of golden glow, which was strange. He'd never seen anything like that before.

He finally got to section where all of the dreams she'd ever had were stored, even those she couldn't remember. The door in the front was wide open, and inside was every alien that had ever frightened her. Daleks and Clockwork Droids and Cybermen; the list went on. The embodiment of Rose's mind was backed into a corner, but bravely standing up to all of the various monsters surrounding her.

The Doctor saw all of this and felt a surge of pride for her. All the same, he still hurried in putting up a block in her mind, and then tightly closed the door.

Disconnecting himself from her mind, he removed his hands from her head and she settled back with a contented sigh.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Present

Rose entered the kitchen fully dressed, with her hair washed, dried and braided back. Oh, and of course copious amounts of makeup. Even if you were running for your life, that was no reason not to look nice.

"Hello," she greeted him brightly. She pulled out a chair and sat down in it. "What's for breakfast? Smells good," she commented, smiling.

The Doctor finished up and slid a plate in front of her. "Traditional English breakfast! Toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, all of it! With tea," he listed, grinning widely. He sat down across from her and started shoveling food in his mouth. Rose stared at him, snickering.

"What? I'm hungry!" he managed to get out despite the fact his mouth was impossibly full.

"I didn't say anything," she laughed defensively, looking down and picking up her own fork.

The breakfast was perhaps the best one Rose had eaten in her life; the Doctor was a surprisingly good cook when he was given the chance. However, even the good food and their high spirits couldn't put off the topic of last night forever.

When the Doctor was done, he cleared his throat and looked at her. "Rose."

She didn't look up, delaying as much as possible. "Yes?"

"Would you like to talk about last night?"

She breathed out. "I only had a nightmare, everybody gets those."

"No, but something was different. I've never seen anybody affected that strongly before. And, you had two in the same night, one right after the other."

"No, I only had the one," she argued, "and- wait, how would you know if I had a nightmare when even I don't remember it?"

"I may have stopped it, by going into your mind," he admitted guiltily, barely audible.

Rose glared at him, but smiled a little, letting him know he was forgiven while pretending to be mad.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again without asking first. But I wanted to talk to you about why these were happening. I think it may have something to do with the fact you hit your head earlier; that may have reawakened some old memories, but I think the majority of it was caused by the Bad Wolf. I think it might still be inside you."


	4. Chapter 3--Separated

Chapter 3-Separated

Rose kept running, ignoring her pounding heart and gasping for air. She didn't stop, even as she dodged the shrapnel and debris flying around her. As the loud shouts and explosions echoed around the open field, she focused on one thing: get away from here. As she sprinted across the open plain, she spared a glance back over her shoulder. Crap! They were gaining on her. She picked up her pace, racing faster and faster against the inevitable. Suddenly, she fell to the ground with a crash, having tripped over a stray tree root in her path. As she frantically got to her feet, flat-out panicking now, a thought entered her mind.

Why was she even running? She gradually slowed her pace to a walk, contemplating. She should probably just give up now. What was the point? She came to a complete stop as a hazy fog took over her mind, pushing away all thought of escaping. She was suddenly overcome with despair. Wouldn't it just be better to let them have her now, rather than carrying on with this pointless struggle? Surely there was no hope of escaping.

Suddenly, a bomb went off particularly close to her, jolting her mind out of its cloudy state. 'What are you doing? Run!' she reminded herself. Pumping her legs faster, she reached the top of a hill.

Rose found herself wishing more and more the Doctor was beside her, smiling that crazy smile and silently encouraging her to go on. She knew that couldn't happen though. If they got their hands on him, they'd have unimaginable power. That thought spurred her on. 'Come on,' she told herself, 'just a bit farther.'

The angry shouts grew closer and closer, and Rose knew she couldn't hold out much longer; she was tiring quickly. Even though she was incredibly toned after running for her life practically every day, she wasn't Superwoman.

If she could just make it past the giant boulder jutting out from the ground a couple hundred meters ahead, then the TARDIS' electrical field could short out their equipment, giving her a bit of an advantage. The shields would protect her from almost everything. She pushed herself even faster. Almost there-

There! The TARDIS lay in wait, a bright beacon amid all of the dust. She glanced back again, checking her adversaries' progress. Big mistake. Not looking where she was going, Rose failed to see the explosion happen not far from her.

BOOM! The biggest explosion yet was close enough to knock Rose off her feet, leaving her sprawled on the ground and more than a little dazed. She lay stunned, vision dimming for a moment before focusing again, only to see them catch up to her. _Not fast enough_, she thought before one of them touched her and the world went black.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Earlier

The Doctor held his breath, gauging Rose's reaction to this stunning revelation. She took it surprisingly well, considering she had just been told an alien creature was living inside her brain. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "But I thought you had taken it out of me," she said, not quite believing him. He couldn't blame her. He could hardly accept it himself, and he'd had hours to think on it. "Is it still dangerous?"

"No. It seems like even though I got most of it, I must have missed a little bit. Some of the consciousness must have remained behind. I wonder why, though," he mused. "If you wouldn't mind," he began, "I'd like to look inside your mind, to see if I can find anything."

"Will it hurt?" she asked. It seemed like a childish question as soon as it flew from her lips.

"No, I would never do anything to hurt you, Rose," he reassured her.

"Ok," she agreed. "What do I do?"

"Just relax," he advised her, putting his hands on her temples. "If there's something you don't want me to see, just imagine a door in front and block it off. I won't be able to look at anything you don't want me to see."

Entering her mind for the second time was much different from the first. 'Doors' that had been closed before by her subconsciousness in an effort to protect herself from the intruder were now opened by her, welcoming him in. Other parts that had not been very bright were now well-lit due to her increased amount of brain activity. He strolled almost casually down the hallway, trying to sense something that didn't belong to Rose in this confusing maze. Peeking into doorways, hands in his figurative pockets, he searched for hours to no avail.

He had been through nearly every section of her mind, from memories to dreams to current thoughts. He hadn't felt anything foreign anywhere. He decided to go check the largest section again, memories. As soon as he got past the more recent ones, a tingling sensation ran down his back. He spun on his heel immediately, facing an ordinary-looking passageway, except for the faint golden glow surrounding everything. Running down it, he came to another door. This one seemed to be shut, but not like it had been last night. This looked like it had been messily closed, not by Rose herself. He threw it open and had to shield his eyes from the bright glare of the memory.

In it was Rose's memory of the Game Station. Of course! The Bad Wolf was very clever. It had masked itself in Rose's own memory of the event, gaining energy from itself in the past while remaining hidden in plain sight. Of course, it wasn't burning up Rose's mind anymore because she was unaware of it. At least he knew it didn't have any intention to harm Rose. That was something, he supposed. However, he couldn't let it remain in her mind for much longer, whatever its intent. Now that she was aware of it (and he knew she was; he could feel her curious presence hovering nearby), the situation could quickly become dangerous.

Stepping into the memory, the Doctor cautiously approached the Bad Wolf. He couldn't interfere too much, or else it would taint Rose's recollection of the Game Station.

"Am I speaking to the being known as the Bad Wolf?" he asked loudly, voice echoing around the large room.

"Doctor," the Bad Wolf murmured.

"What are you doing here? Well, never mind, I know why you're here. You want me to leave. I just want to know what you think you can do about it. I am needed, however, and cannot leave until the moment is right."

"You have to, though! If you stay in Rose's mind much longer, it will tear her apart."

"She will not remember this once you leave her mind. I will stay safely hidden until I am required, and the child will be safe."

"You can still stay! Just leave her mind, and come into mine. I'll be able to host you much longer, and with no risk to Rose," he begged.

"No. The child has been chosen, and I will tell you this: you will not have long to wait. We will meet again, Doctor, but I warn you, it will not be a pleasant time. And with that, you should depart."

The Doctor found himself being gently but firmly pushed out of Rose's mind. His eyes flew open, only to see Rose slump over in her chair, nearly falling off. "Whoa!" He caught her and saw she was deep in sleep.

"That would be the mind wipe, then," he said to himself and gently picked her up to carry her to her bedroom so she could sleep it off. _We seem to be doing this a lot lately_. _Rose_ _collapsing, me carrying her…_he reflected.

Setting her down, the Doctor decided to go out for a walk. Even though he didn't want to leave Rose, he was bouncing with energy and a walk would help him figure out what the Bad Wolf had meant. Besides, what was the worst thing that could happen?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

What did he think was going to happen? Something always went wrong. It was their way of life. He knew he shouldn't have left Rose alone, without even leaving a note. 'Stupid, stupid Time Lord!' he chastised himself. Now they were both going to pay for his carelessness.

He'd only been walking. How was he supposed to know that a Kahler camp was less than a kilometer away? He'd just been strolling along, minding his business, when a squad of camouflaged soldiers had swarmed out of their hiding place behind a small copse of trees. They then had proceeded to surround him, powering up their high-tech weapons. Within seconds the Doctor had found himself securely bound, unable to move anything below his neck. Aiming their guns at him (as if he could do anything) they bundled him not-so-gently into their form of transport, which seemed to be a cross between a hovercraft and a tank. A soldier climbed in after him; now the Doctor was stuck in the middle of the vehicle, making escape impossible.

"Oi! Put those down, you'll have someone's eye out with that!" the Doctor remarked indignantly, hiding his surprise at being jumped with no warning. The soldiers slowly put their weapons down, perplexed this strange man's attitude.

"Thank you. Now, would someone care to explain why I'm trussed up like a Christmas turkey and being escorted to what I assume must be your main base?" the Doctor said brightly as the engine started rather loudly. Nobody bothered to answer him, and he correctly surmised they must be under strict orders not to talk to him.

"Ok, so you're not talking, guess this will be a monologue then. I do like a good monologue, though they can get a bit dull if you go on long enough. Did you know, I once met Franklin D. Roosevelt? He gave a good monologue. Nice bloke, Frank. Although, his Fireside Chats could get a little long. Speaking of long monologues, have you ever heard of Queen Elizabeth XXXIV? No, I suppose you haven't, old Earth history. Blimey, she could blather on. Talk your ear off if you let her. She was known for falling asleep during any speech she wasn't giving. Most people didn't take that too well, as you could imagine. The people did love her plum pies, however; they were some of the best in the country! I didn't think much of them though. Now if they had been banana, that would have been a different story. You can never go wrong with a good banana," the Doctor lectured, earning him many annoyed looks from the soldiers in the automobile.

He wasn't done though; oh, no, he was going to keep talking and talking until these arrogant fools told him who they were and what they wanted with him. He figured he deserved at least that much, what with their rough treatment of him and rather rude demeanor.

So he talked. On and on, about various different subjects, from proper care of infant Raxacoricofallapatorians to Benjamin Franklin's favorite foods, all the while silently straining against his bonds. This went on for nearly twenty minutes, with the military personnel growing more and more irritated with each passing minute. The Doctor was just beginning to feel discouraged at his apparent lack of progress when the pilot turned around.

"Will someone just shut him up?!" he roared angrily, fed up with this pointless and aggravating prattling. Not to mention it was distracting and dangerous.

Everyone jumped at his sudden loss of temper. One man sitting in the back threw a threatening look at the Doctor which seemed to say, 'I'll make you shut up if you aren't quiet.' The Doctor glared at him with coal black eyes that were suddenly flooded with previously held-back rage.

"Listen to me. If you don't want to make me angrier than I already am, which would be a very, very bad idea, then you will tell me who you are and what is so important that has led you to kidnapping innocent civilians!"

"In case you hadn't noticed," one man said acerbically, "there's a war on. I don't know about you, but I will do anything that helps to protect my planet. If that includes recruiting people who are stupid enough to go out for a stroll in the middle of a warzone, so be it. And if you think we hadn't noticed what you are, Time Lord, you are sadly mistaken. I think you will be very useful in helping us to win this endless fight," the big man sneered, almost gloating.

The Doctor continued to fight against the unforgiving force field surrounding him while staring at the muscular man with a murderous glint in his eye. Unfortunately, he failed to see the man seated on his other side pull out a syringe.

The medic rolled his eyes. It looked this one was going to be a problem passenger. He stabbed him in the neck just as the Doctor turned around.

The Doctor didn't have time for anger as the drug suddenly took effect, sending him into a comatose state. So it was going to be one of those days.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	5. Chapter 4--Drafted

Chapter 4-Drafted

Jack was not having a good day. Firstly, some random alien had fallen through the Rift at an ungodly hour in the morning. Even though it looked like it was about the size of a lion, complete with claws and fur, he probably could have handled it on his own. But then it had started spouting nasty green goo that smarted wherever it came into contact with skin. And boy, did it _smell_. Within minutes Jack was covered from head to toe in the acidic substance, so he backed slowly away from the scared creature so that he could try to call in the rest of his team.

Once he was a safe distance away from it, but still had it in his line of sight, he whipped out his mobile while keeping his gun trained on it; not that he had any intention of shooting. It was meant as more of a warning than anything else.

He lifted the phone to his ear and pressed speed dial, which contacted Ianto. Jack knew he could trust him to phone everyone else.

Jack shifted impatiently, listening as the phone rang, once, twice… The noise seemed to irritate their little visitor, who let out a low growl and lowered himself (or herself?) down to the ground, looking for all the world like a cat about to pounce.

"Come on, come on…" Jack muttered nervously, his eyes never leaving the irate beast about to spring.

"Hello?" Jack was finally greeted with a sleepy and somewhat irritated response on the last ring.

"It's about time! Ianto, I need you down at the hub, stat. Get the rest of the team, too. We've got some Rift activity and I need everyone here," Jack instructed, but quietly so as not to frighten the alien into attacking.

To his credit, Ianto didn't even ask questions.

"Got it," he said curtly, sounding already wide awake and wasting no time. He hung up and Jack heard the line go dead. He put the phone away, but remained in a defensive position, cautious of the clearly ticked off alien. Jack didn't blame it, either. Snatched from your surroundings out of nowhere and being dumped on a planet halfway across the galaxy would not be the perfect start to his day, either.

Strangely enough, he found himself starting to talk to it in a soothing voice. Huh. The Doctor must have rubbed off on him during their travels together, short as they were.

"Listen, I don't want to have to hurt you. If you just calm down, I can bring you inside and we can send you back through the Rift, back to wherever you're from. I just need you to relax and we can all get along," he said quietly, but he wasn't even sure if it could understand him.

Jack's tone did seem to make a difference, though, and the creature slowly backed away, the instinct to flee winning out over the instinct to fight.

Jack started to slowly walk over to where the poor thing was crouching against the wall of a building, trying not to frighten it any further, when a loud screech sounded in the street next to them as the Torchwood van pulled up.

The alien immediately tensed up again at this unexpected fright and made a sound that Jack could only describe as a snarl.

Gwen, Ianto, and Owen piled out of the van (Tosh must have been inside the hub), guns raised and pointed at the creature that, to them, seemed like it was threatening Jack's life.

"No! You'll scare it!"Jack yelled over their shouts, but he only succeeded in frightening the poor thing worse. It roared, clearly displeased with having multiple weapons pointed at it.

In one fluid motion, it sprang forward to either attack or flee; no one really had any idea which.

Time seemed to slow down for Jack. He saw it all happen in clear detail, but was powerless to stop it. He could only watch helplessly at events unfolded before his eyes.

The attack surprised everyone, and someone fired reflexively, scared at the sudden movement.

He saw the gun go off, felt the explosion deep in his chest, smelled the acrid sting of gunpowder. The sound was deafening in his ears.

"No!" Jack cried out. "It's not trying to hurt anyone!"

The great beast crashed to the ground, unmoving as it bled out on the street from that single, fatal gunshot wound.

Jack knelt down next to the helpless creature in the road, feeling nothing but sadness for this unnecessary waste of a life.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and laid a hand on its furry flank.

It seemed to shudder away from him, and Jack filled with sadness at the gesture. It would die forever hating humans, and there was nothing he could do to change that. He would sit with it as it died, though; it was the least he could do after it was so callously killed.

_I forgive you, _came a reply to their unspoken thoughts. Jack could only nod, and the creature gave one last breath and the light went out of its eyes as it died. It had been the light of intelligence. A sentient, intelligent, _telepathic_ creature, and it had just died. Right here on the street, in front of him.

Jack was angry, but not at his team. He didn't blame them, but, unfortunately, that's who it was taken out on. They received the brunt of his anger, and it was not pretty.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?!" Jack demanded angrily, looking at each of them, not knowing who it was that had fired. He was in Captain mode now, and there was no going back once he had started.

"That was an intelligent, telepathic creature you just killed! It was _scared._ It did what anything would have done: lashed out at those trying to hurt it!" he yelled. He knew he was being unfair, but didn't care.

"It would have killed you, Jack!" Gwen finally interjected, unable to hold her tongue any longer, growing more and more annoyed at this unfair treatment they were getting when they clearly weren't to blame.

"It was running away! God knows we scared it enough."

"And how were we to know that? To us, it looked like your life was in danger. You can't blame us for reacting when it jumped."

Jack's expression softened. "I'm sorry. You're right. It's too early for any of this. I'm just mad that I couldn't do anything for it. Go home."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

That had been about seven hours ago. Owen wasn't talking to him; he was still cheesed off at Jack for the lecture. This was especially irritating when Owen ignored him whenever Jack told him to do something. He was forced to give his orders in a roundabout way through Ianto.

As a result, tempers rose very quickly. You could practically feel the tension in the air, rolling off everybody in waves. This did not make for a very pleasant morning.

By about noon, Jack was fed up with this frustrating, counter-productive mood everybody had. He had thrown on his military-style coat and gone out to take a walk, to calm down a little.

That was when everything started to go pear-shaped.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

All she had been doing was walking down the street in front of the shops, ready for a relaxing day of shopping on her day off, when the thief had come.

Hearing footsteps running behind her, Carol turned around to see what was wrong, and saw a man running straight for her with no intention of stopping.

"Hey mister, are you all right?" she yelled, wondering why he was barreling straight for her.

He reached her, and, without warning, snatched her purse off of her arm and kept running.

"Oi! Somebody stop him! He stole my purse!" she shouted. A man wearing a big grey coat on the other side of the street looked up at the commotion, seemingly snapped out of his train of thought.

Seeing who Carol was pointing at, the stranger took off running after the man, dodging trash cans and small children in his path, whereas the thief just pushed through the crowd.

Carol followed closely behind the stranger, when suddenly the thief turned a corner into a dark alley.

The stranger and Carol did the same, but when Carol looked around, both men were gone. How was that possible? She had been right behind them, and it was a dead end. They couldn't have simply vanished into thin air!

After searching for a couple of minutes, she called the police.

"Hello, what's your emergency?"

"I'd like to report a robbery, and a…" she trailed off, not sure how to explain this to the police. Who would believe her?

"Ma'am? Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine, it's just… this is going to sound crazy, but… he vanished. Literally disappeared, in front of my eyes," Carol said quickly, biting her lip.

"…Please hold for a moment," finally came the reply from the operator. Carol heard them muttering on the other end of the line, nonsense like 'extraterrestrial…Torchwood? ...maybe…"

Somebody cleared their throat and said, "We'll be dispatching someone to your area shortly," and then hung up.

Nothing to do but wait, then.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Jack had been gone for a long time, and they were starting to get nervous. It wasn't unlike him to stay out a little, but the Rift was acting up more than usual today, and he had been gone for hours. What if something had happened?

Thankfully they got a call from the police department saying there had been a robbery and a disappearance downtown, and that distracted them from their morbid thoughts.

When they arrived at the scene, police cars were parked in front of the shop, but everyone was crowded near an alley. The police were trying to get everyone to back away, but having little success.

While Owen and Ianto went to talk to the policemen standing at the 'crime scene', Gwen and Tosh spoke to a pretty young woman standing a little ways away.

Apparently she had been walking, and the thief had come up behind her. She had shouted, and a stranger in a long grey coat had run after the robber. She described him as a little bit on the taller side, with black hair.

"Did the thief have any noticeable traits, or anything unusual about him?" Tosh interjected, trying to figure out if he wasn't human.

"Not that I can think of. Sorry," she said, looking kind of sheepish.

"That's fine," Tosh promised, turning to leave, "just tell us if you remember anything else."

"Wait! I saw that he had a kind of tattoo on his face, some weird green squiggles," she yelled hopefully, thinking this could be helpful. It was.

"Kahlers," Gwen said, eyes wide, turning to Tosh.

"I thought they were peaceful!" Tosh exclaimed as they walked over to share their news with Ianto and Owen.

"Apparently not as much as we thought. And did you hear her description of the stranger who ran after him? It sounded exactly like Jack!"

"I know! Add that to the fact that we haven't heard from him in hours, and it sounds pretty likely."

"We were 'given permission' to collect samples from the alley, and guess what we found?" Ianto said as the girls reached them.

Owen stood up, holding a test tube and peering at it curiously. "There are traces of certain elements here that indicate someone used a time stop. And not just any old time stop; this is a Level 5 Class A, top-condition, state-of-the-art piece of equipment we're dealing with here. Someone obviously didn't want anybody to escape this.

"We've also found traces of what could be exhaust fumes of some kind of spacecraft. Tosh, I need you to run through the computer, to see what we're dealing with here. Gwen-,"

"It's a Kahler ship. We talked to Carol and she said that she saw the thief had green squiggles on his face. There's only one species that has markings anywhere near what she was describing, and they are also known for their advanced technology, like time stops," Tosh interrupted before Owen could finish.

"Well. That certainly narrows it down," Ianto commented sarcastically.

"We also heard that there was a stranger following the Kahler, and he vanished along with it. Did you hear anything from her about this guy?" Owen said, curious.

Tosh and Gwen glanced at each other, unsure of how to break the news. "It was Jack," Gwen finally blurted out, deciding to just get it out there.

"Oh, crap!" Owen cursed. "So now we've got a missing captain to go with the alien on the loose. Could this day get any worse?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Jack heard the shout, he looked up. A woman was yelling something about a stolen purse and pointing at a quickly receding figure down the street. Without thinking, he started running after it. It was generally a rule, when you lived the way he did, that whenever there was shouting or running, you ran towards the danger.

He was gaining on the man, with the woman following closely behind him, when suddenly the person he was following darted into a dark alley (of course).

Jack thought this was a poor choice on his part, for it turned out to be a dead end.

He pulled out his gun and trained it on the man, who he now saw had strange green marks on his face. _Oh, no. _Of course he was alien. At least this race was mostly peaceful. Although, considering this one had stolen a purse and was looking at him weirdly, Jack supposed he must be the exception to the rule.

"Just give me the purse you took from my friend here and we can all go our separate ways," he said calmly.

"Oh, this? Here, you can have it," he said, and threw it to him.

Then Jack noticed she wasn't in the alley with them.

Turning around to check, he caught sight of her rounding the corner. But not moving. Neither was anybody else on the previously busy street. It was as if the entire world was frozen except for him and the alien in front of him.

"It's called a time stop. Although, I wouldn't expect _you _to know anything about it. Anyway, let's just say we are in our own little pocket of time, and nobody can get in or out without my permission," he smirked condescendingly.

The gun still raised, Jack addressed the alien he now knew to be called a Kahler. "I'm from Torchwood. If you're lost or something, my team can help. But you're gonna need to let us out."

"Ooh, he even has military training! And brave, too. Yes, I think you'll do very nicely," he appraised, and then got out a small device that looked like a remote.

Weighing it in his hand, he said, "I'm afraid this is going to be a little unpleasant for you," and pressed a button on it.

Instantly Jack collapsed, but still remained conscious. Therefore he was able to see everything that happened next.

He was paralyzed everywhere but his eyes, which he could still move to look around and blink as the alien walked over to him. He watched helplessly as the Kahler pressed a different button on the remote, and a round pod appeared.

"Here's what's going to happen, since you won't remember anyway. We are going to get into my ship, and travel to my planet. There all your memories will be wiped, and you will become a soldier to fight in the war. Any questions? Thought not," he smirked, seeing Jack struggling to move or say something.

He dragged Jack into the interior of his ship, and pressed a few buttons. The top slid closed and a panel in front of him flickered to life. Jack watched him plot a course, and then press another button. Jack was out of it within seconds.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	6. Chapter 5--Questions

This is the last chapter I have pre-written, so from now on updates won't be as often.

Chapter 5-Questions

Rose gradually awoke, feeling well-rested and refreshed. She was snuggled up in her fluffy pink duvet (this tent had everything!) and had that feeling one gets after a particularly pleasant dream; however, it had been a strange yet familiar dream, almost like déjà vu. She assumed that was to be expected, what with the amount of weird things she and the Doctor saw every day. It was the strangest thing, though; as hard as she tried, she couldn't recall what the dream had been about.

Oh, well. She guessed it couldn't be helped and gave up trying to remember her dream. It wasn't worth the headache.

Sitting up and stretching, she yawned and glanced down, seeing that she was already fully dressed. That saved time, then.

She slowly became aware of a quiet, melodic singing. It was unlike any song she had ever heard before, with a kind of ethereal, floating tune. Rose thought it was rather pretty, and found herself softly humming along to the music as she heard it, the melody rising and falling in parts. It really was a rather beautiful song, and Rose wondered where it was coming from that she would be able to hear it. They were in the middle of nowhere, after all.

Was it the Doctor singing or something? It wouldn't be the first time she had caught him doing something odd. The other day she had walked in on him stroking the console of the TARDIS.

But this couldn't be him, anyway. No, it sounded even older than the Doctor and somehow timeless.

It also sounded strangely familiar, although Rose was sure she had never heard it before. Was it – the TARDIS? It had the same kind of feel in her mind, like Rose was sensing the time ship's personality inside of her head. It felt the same as it had on the Game Station, though Rose didn't know if that was anything to go by. For all she knew, the TARDIS felt the same in everybody's mind.

She didn't have anything to compare it to, not being a telepath herself. It was a mystery how the TARDIS was even managing to broadcast into her mind in the first place. Rose had only managed to link because the Bad Wolf had possessed her, which had heightened her senses.

Unexpectedly, the music got louder at the mention of the Game Station, then immediately quieted. This surprised Rose out of her train of thought, leaving her confused for a moment, before being overtaken with the sudden urge to go and find the Doctor.

She turned to get out of bed and then realized something she should have noticed before.

Why would she have gone to bed in her clothes? That only happened after she had been either seriously injured or just really, really exhausted after a full day of stopping evil forces. Then a thought hit her. Hadn't it already been morning? That could explain the feeling of déjà vu she was currently experiencing.

It had been, hadn't it? She distinctly remembered rolling out of bed, exhausted after that nightmare of a night last night, because she knew she had been disappointed the Doctor hadn't stayed until morning.

Yes. Rose remembered. She had gotten out of bed and gone into the kitchen to see the Doctor cooking breakfast. Cooking! Despite all of his protests, she found that he actually could do domestic when he wanted to. She suspected he liked it more than he let on.

They had eaten breakfast and then talked about… what? No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't come to her. She had a feeling it had might be important. The Doctor had... again she felt a sort of block in her mind when she tried to remember. Almost like there was an empty space she couldn't cross, like a bridge missing.

Rose found that all of her memories since breakfast were gone, which was quite a gap, considering the length of time she'd been asleep. Strangely enough, though this was rather distressing, this didn't alarm her nearly as much as it should have. It was sad that she was almost used to these kinds of things by now, though she knew she would never give up a life with the Doctor.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

While getting out of and then making her bed, she saw that it was at least mid-afternoon, or what passed for it on this planet, anyway. Rose never had been able to tell how much time had passed on the alien planets she had visited.

"Doctor?" Rose called down the hallway as she softly padded down the hall in bare feet.

Receiving no answer, Rose tried again, a little louder. "Doctor!"

Yet again, no response. Now Rose began to worry. It wasn't unusual for the Doctor to not answer her once if he was busy or couldn't hear her, but he usually heard her after two or three times of yelling down corridors.

She came into the kitchen and looked around. The Doctor wasn't anywhere in sight, and Rose wondered where he could have gone. There were only a few likely places he could be, and Rose didn't think it was that likely that he was in the bathroom or sleeping. Even then, he would have heard her calling for him, what with his 'superior Time Lord hearing' that he claimed he had.

That left two options: either the Doctor had travelled to the TARDIS for some unknown reason, or was outside, _in the middle of a warzone. _Rose wanted to think it was the former, but knew that that was unlikely.

Why would he have gone out in the first place? Rose couldn't think of any reason for the Doctor's departure.

What if- Oh, God. What if he hadn't left willingly? The thought made her sick. Just this once, could they get through a trip without one of them getting injured, arrested, or otherwise detained? She scoffed at that. Fat chance.

Rose used her irritation to distract herself from the worry clawing at her stomach. She was torn between dashing outside and looking for him, and knowing that she was probably jumping to conclusions and should wait a little longer.

She decided to wait before she rushed into any potentially dangerous situations. It wouldn't be helpful at all if he turned out to just be going out for a walk, and she got arrested or something.

"Always wait five and a half hours," the Doctor had said. Well, that was she would do, then. If he wasn't back by then, she would go out to look for him.

Five and a half hours turned out to be a really long wait.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Cold. He was so cold. Why was it so cold in here? He was on a hard surface. Metal, as his brain identified it. He also knew his head hurt. A lot. That was unusual. He didn't normally get something as mundane as a _headache, _but the fact that he couldn't remember why disturbed him more than the headache itself. Why would he be lying on a cold, hard surface, with a massive headache and no recollection of how he got there?

He needed some answers, and for that, it might help if he knew where he was. He cracked open an eye, only to immediately shut it again as a bright light blinded him momentarily, causing his head to pound harder.

He groaned and rolled over onto his hands and knees. He noted randomly that he was wearing a suit, of all things. Suddenly, he was overcome with a bout of nausea, and gagged, trying not to throw up. When it had passed, he slowly got to his feet, vision blurring through squinted eyes.

He was dizzy, but not so dizzy that he couldn't think straight. He saw that he was standing on a shiny metal surface, and surrounded on three sides by metal walls. The remaining side seemed like it had nothing blocking it, but when he walked over towards it, he nearly broke his nose by walking straight into what he now knew was a force field. It flashed blue once, then faded away from sight again, until he looked closer. It was nearly impossible to see except for a slight rippling of the air in front of him, like a sidewalk on a hot summer's day. It was also emitting a faint buzzing sound, almost too low to hear.

Beyond that, he saw a hallway extending in both directions away from him, with another room directly across the hallway. It had the same sparse furnishings that his cell had (he had elected to call it a cell, since there was no clear way of getting out), just a threadbare mattress on the ground that he had woken up on and, in the corner, a small wall jutting out which he assumed hid a toilet or something like it.

The only difference was that a man was lying on the other cell's mattress, asleep or possibly knocked out. He was wearing a dark grey greatcoat with boots and suspenders. The whole ensemble had a sort of World War II look about it. The man in the other cell also had messy dark brown or black hair; he couldn't tell which.

He was overtaken with the urge to talk with the strange man in the coat, to feel a little less alone in this strange new world he had been thrust into with no memory of his past, even though he clearly couldn't hear him.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" he said, noting the way his voice didn't echo. Good, that meant the force fields weren't soundproof.

The black-haired man didn't stir. He tried again, a little louder.

"Hello?" Still no answer.

Oh, well. The stranger would wake up soon enough. Until then, he would just have to wait until either someone came or the strange man woke up for company. In the meantime, he opted to telling the stranger all about this new place they had found themselves in.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was two hours, thirty-six minutes, and forty-eight seconds later that the strange man woke up. He seemed to have the same unpleasant symptoms that he'd had earlier, and when the man stood up in alarm, he followed suit.

"Hello! Welcome to our new home! Although, I certainly hope it's not permanent. I don't really care for this place, especially because it gets rather lonely when you don't see anybody, and you don't even remember anything!" The pinstripe man started out cheerful, but was angrily shouting at the ceiling by the end of his little speech.

The stranger just stood there, staring, unsure of what to think of the occupant of the neighboring cell. He finally asked, "Who are you?", wanting to know if this man was to be trusted or not. He noted that the man had an American accent.

He turned to look at him, smiling disarmingly, and confessed, "I don't actually know. Courtesy of our brand-new friends, I suppose."

"Oh. Well, I need something to call you. You can't even remember your name?" the man asked dejectedly.

"Nope!" the pinstripe-clad man answered cheerfully. "I suppose we could always make up names for ourselves. How about I call you Jackson, and I'll go by Johnson."

'Jackson' seemed to think about this for a moment before answering. "That'll work, I guess. I'm guessing you don't remember _anything,_ either?"

"Unfortunately, no," Johnson sighed. "We'll just have to wait until _somebody_ comes." He knew, however, that he had at least one ally in this unfamiliar place.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x


	7. Chapter 6--Answers

So sorry about the wait! I am an abysmally slow writer, and hopefully I will finish sooner next time!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chapter 6-Answers

When Rose went out to look for the Doctor, she wasn't expecting this. She sat in the back of some vehicle native to the people of this planet, silently fuming. She hadn't even been walking for ten minutes before being apprehended by a group of people who she assumed were in the Kahler military. They had odd designs on the sides of their faces, which the Doctor had told her identified them as the Kahler. They had effectively immobilized her with some kind of invisible bonds, and packed her into the truck, where they were apparently heading to some camp they had not too far from here.

All of her attempts to demand answers had been met with glares and silence. She eventually just gave up and brooded silently, watching the landscape go past.

The convoy had reached the base without incident, but before they got out of the vehicle, a soldier she thought must have been a medic injected her with a syringe, whispering an apology.

She felt her eyes slide closed and her body relax, but remained awake, which Rose found a bit odd. The solution he had given her must have been meant to have a greater effect than just closing her eyes and paralyzing her. Maybe it had been meant to knock her out. Well, it certainly wasn't working. She could hear every bit of the conversation two of the soldiers were having.

"I know, sir, I just feel bad. These people we're kidnapping could have lives, families. We're fighting a war to protect these people, but end up taking their memories. It doesn't make _sense_," the medic stammered nervously.

"_Your_ job is not to question. You will do as you're told by your superiors without asking questions," Rose heard a burly man reply with acid in his tone.

They kept arguing as Rose felt herself being lifted up and put on a stretcher. She was wheeled into another room, where the clattering of metal and beeping of monitors indicated she was in an infirmary.

Another minute later she felt another injection slide into her arm.

"This will erase your memories. I'm sorry," he said, not knowing Rose could hear him.

Just before she fell unconscious, she thought she heard a wolf howl.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Why hello. And who might you be?" A pleasant voice startled Rose out of sleep. She sat up with a start and looked around in a panic, not knowing where she was, until she took in the surroundings and gathered where she must be. It looked like some sort of prison, albeit a very clean one. The word that came to mind was _sterile. _

Even though this wouldn't normally be a good thing, Rose knew that this meant that she had ended up exactly where she had intended. She was one step closer to the Doctor.

The Doctor!

She jumped up off the mattress she was currently sitting on and saw that there was a man sitting directly across from her against the opposite wall. He too sprang up when she did, smiling brightly.

"Doctor! Fancy meeting you here," Rose laughed as she hurried over to hug him. She didn't think they'd be so fortunate as to be put in the same cell. She went to put her arms around him, but stopped when he quickly backed away, giving her a strange look.

"What is it? Doctor, what's wrong?" she questioned, concerned. He normally never passed up the chance for a hug from her, especially not when they were in the middle of danger. Which they certainly were now; in deep, and they both knew it.

So when he jumped away from her so fast he almost backed into the wall, Rose naturally assumed the worst. Maybe their captors had done something, like given him a virus? But that wouldn't explain his strange look. His eyes were almost… empty. They still were full of emotion, but utterly unfamiliar. The way he looked at her, though… it gave her shivers. Like he didn't trust her, didn't _know_ her.

In fact, he wasn't acting like himself _at all. _Sure, he had the same bouncy exterior and bright outlook, but underneath lurked something else, something suspicious. He was the most guarded that he had been around her since she had first met him, before he had opened up to her.

"Doctor? Are you feeling alright?" she asked cautiously, stepping back, because it was clear he didn't want her so close to him.

"Doctor? Doctor who?"

Rose's heart dropped into her stomach. Either he was concealing his identity, which she had no idea why, he had been possessed or something like it, or… he honestly didn't know who he was. That could explain his really odd behaviour towards her.

Well, this could certainly complicate things. Staging a rescue would be infinitely harder if the one being rescued wouldn't go with her. Not to mention she wasn't sure if he had lost his memory or not. She knew she hadn't, for some unexplained reason.

"Do you remember me?" she said softly, watching his face for any signs of recognition, a wink, that grin she loved so much, _anything_. But there was nothing there but confusion, and a slightly apologetic expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he replied quietly, not sure how to break this to her. It was obvious that this young girl knew him and cared deeply for him, but he currently did not reciprocate those feelings. He knew that she was probably a nice girl and regretted letting her down, even if it wasn't his fault.

"You see," he said, scratching the back of his neck (something Rose noticed), "Jackson and I here seem to have lost all of our memories."

With that one simple sentence, any last tiny thread of hope Rose had been holding onto vanished. Her heart froze for a minute before her brain caught up with her emotions and she forced herself to take a deep breath. She didn't know if this could even be reversed, like some types of amnesia could. _Stop right there, _she told herself. He_ had _to get his memories back. Rose didn't even want to think about what would happen if he didn't. They just had to keep calm like they always did and think a way out of this.

Then something else he had said registered in her frantic thoughts. "Jackson? Who's Jackson? Are there _more _people here?"

With that, a familiar accent rang out from the cell across from Rose and Johnson. "Well hello there. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting in this wonderful place?"

There could only be one person that suave voice could belong to. Add in the unmistakable accent and smooth attitude…

Rose turned to see somebody in the opposite cell casually lounging on a mattress identical to the one she'd woken up on, looking for all the world like he enjoyed being here. Rose immediately recognized him, though she wasn't sure how he could even be here. It just wasn't _possible. _

"Jack?!" she shrieks out, surprising everybody with the volume of her outburst. "But- how- _you were dead!_" she stammers loudly, before finally spitting out a coherent sentence.

Jack stares at her for a moment before smiling nervously at the odd girl across from him. "I don't know about that, sweetheart, but I certainly don't _feel_ very dead." He took a moment to appraise himself. "Nope. Definitely very much alive."

Rose took a deep breath to try to calm down after all of these new revelations. It was almost too much to handle.

"And why'd you call me Jack, anyways? He told you my name was Jackson." He jerked his head towards the Doctor, whom he only knew as Johnson.

Rose fumbled for a moment before saying, "Oh, you know, Jackson's sort of a mouthful; I just thought Jack might be easier to say."

Jackson shrugged it off, unconcerned. "Whatever works for you, sweetie. Not like I can correct you, anyway."

Rose groaned and flopped back down on the mattress. So nobody here remembered who they were except her. Fantastic, as her first doctor might say.

"Is there any way to get out of here? Have you tried the sonic screwdriver on the force field yet?" she asked, although she was pretty sure that checking for a means of escape would have already occurred to them.

"As far as we can see, there's no way in or out of the cells besides de-activating the force fields; the people who run this whole place seem very technologically advanced. They've clearly got this running cleanly." he listed off quickly, pacing across the length of their small cell. "What's a sonic screwdriver? This?" he added, holding that very thing out to Rose.

"Yep. So, you don't remember how to use it, obviously," she commented absent-mindedly while inspecting it and trying to remember what settings the Doctor had taught her. She had memorized which settings helped heal broken bones, stopped bleeding, and (obviously) unlocked doors, but she couldn't quite remember what setting it was for disabling a big electrical thing.

At random, Rose tried a setting she thought might work, pointing it at the force field.

Nothing.

She hadn't expected it to work, anyway, and was just glad it hadn't blown up or strengthened or something.

However, they had not had the chance to grow bored when, not five minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. Rose straightened up immediately and tried to peer around the corner of the cell she and the Doctor were sharing. The force field got in her way though, and she wasn't able to see the source of the noise until a figure arrived in front of their cell.

It was the same burly man Rose had heard arguing with the medic earlier, and the Doctor had talked to, though he didn't remember.

The man pressed a long sequence of numbers into a keypad on the wall, but unfortunately, neither of them was able to see what it was.

Both of the force fields dissipated, leaving an open space all of them eyed surreptitiously. The man didn't miss it, though, and stared at them. "Don't even think about it." He pulled out his gun. "Give me the sonic device and come with me," he ordered.

Rose, Jack, and the Doctor glanced at each other; the latter were questioning, Rose's affirmative. Rose was not used to not having the Doctor know what to do; not used to this stranger that knew nothing of her, of their life together.

The soldier walked swiftly back down the corridor; the prisoners fell into step behind him. Rose plucked up the courage to ask the question that was on all of their minds. "Where are we? What do you want with us? Who are you?" she demanded of the stranger.

His pace didn't slow; he answered without turning around. "You'll find out soon enough," he said infuriatingly.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

They were led down so many different corridors, that they all soon lost all sense of direction. Rose began to wonder if he was purposely taking a maze-like route in an effort to confuse them.

At last, he stopped in front of a heavy metal door, and typed in yet another long code. He positioned his body in front of the keypad, though; not taking any chances that one of them might see it.

It slid open noiselessly, which was quite a feat, considering. The tall man walked in without waiting for them.

They were greeted with the sight of a bustling community. Squadrons walked back and forth across the huge area, receiving orders. Others were attending to huge aircrafts. The trio watched all of this for a moment before rushing to catch up with the big man, who hadn't waited for them, already being used to the sight.

He led them through the bustling crowd, which was parting automatically, giving them a wide berth. This man was obviously very influential based on the respect everybody seemed to give him.

They passed under yet another doorway, though this one scanned each of them as they walked through. No alarms or anything went off, so Rose assumed that meant they had clearance to be here.

This doorway entered into a smaller room, what looked like an office, with a clear table in the center with a chair behind it. Occupying the chair was a man with a green design covering part of his face, like a tattoo. Rose and the Doctor immediately recognized him as a Kahler, the Doctor having known him by the markings on his face and Rose remembering what little the Doctor had told her about the species.

The man was occupied with working on something on his desk, which had lit up and projected a hologram in the air in front of him. He was in the process of manipulating the image (kind of like Tony Stark in the movie _Iron Man,_) Rose thought.

However, upon seeing them enter the room, he turned the desk off and stood. "What is the meaning of this, Rak?" he demanded angrily. "I'm in the middle of something! Why have you brought me these prisoners?"

"Mas, they were concealing a weapon that was able to damage the containment unit they were in. And this one," he gestured to Rose, "appears to have retained her former knowledge of these two. They have met before, it looks like, and she was able to remember everything."

The commanding officer's demeanour immediately changed. "How does that work? How have you managed to beat our systems?" he muttered as he slowly walked around the desk to get a better look at Rose.

This man was starting to creep her out at this point, what with him being in her face, so she said loudly, "Do you mind? Personal space, yeah?"

He stepped back immediately, wearing an insincere smile, and apologized coolly. "Of course; forgive me. It is… _intriguing _having a subject such as yourself who has escaped the fate of so many others here. You will pardon my curiosity."

"Yeah, mate, listen, I'm not exactly in the mood to have a nice, long, meaningless chat right now, so I'll get straight to the point. Why the hell are you doing this? What do you need us for?"

He bristled noticeably, a bit put off by Rose's forward attitude, but kept a calm exterior. "I am not going to simply reveal to you all of our plans for this war," he said scathingly, but then paled visibly as Rose's eyes began to shine with a golden light.

When she spoke, her voice was smoother, more elegant. "You will tell them why you need innocents to fight your war for you. I am the Bad Wolf. I see everything in you, everything you are, and I look down on you."

Mas was intrigued, and (though he would never admit it) a little intimidated. This… thing, whatever it was, (for he knew it could not have been Rose who had spoken) could be interesting. He made a spur-of-the-moment decision to tell them what he had planned. At best, it would gain the Bad Wolf's trust and save him from whatever the Bad Wolf would do. At worst… He didn't want to think about that.

"Pull up a chair," he said as the light in Rose's eyes faded.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"We developed a serum comprised of midazolam and scopolamine to help with the amnesia. This way, the people would have no memory of their lives before we administered the drug, making them more willing to comply with us. The brilliant thing about these chemicals is that they only affect personal memory, not general knowledge. The people given the injection would then become the perfect soldier, ready to fight in a war we desperately need help in," he finished.

"So that's what you gave us, then?" Jack interjected, trying to understand their part in all of this.

"Yes. Though, for some reason, it didn't work on her." He gestured to Rose.

"Why Jack, though?" Rose asked, confused. "He's just a normal bloke from Earth! Not even from this planet! Why would you need him, instead of just snatching other citizens around the planet?" Rose demanded, angry at having her friend dragged into this mess for seemingly no reason.

"We are running low on resources. We send out teams regularly to seek out people who have a strong moral code, and draft them into our army," he explained patiently.

His behavior seemed to aggravate Rose further. How could he be so callous about this? They were actively kidnapping people off the streets, and this man just sat there, perfectly fine with sending them to their deaths without them even remembering anything about themselves!

There was no point in angering him, though; he was clearly the commanding officer here, and could easily have them killed on the spot if he so wanted.

"So what's your plan for us now, then?" the Doctor asked. "We _certainly_ aren't going to fight in your army. Not that we would have anyway, but…"

Mas just smiled and said, in a tone that sent chills down everybody's back, "Oh, I think you can be _very _useful to us."


	8. Chapter 7--Pain (Part One)

I decided to split this chapter into two parts, since it's been FAR too long since I updated, and it will be, as the title suggests, painful. Sorry it's so short! The Supernatural fandom kidnapped me :)

Chapter 7-Pain (Part One)

s your plan for us now, then?We certainly arens back,

**Rose immediately went on high alert, her whole body tingling. It sounded like things had just gotten a lot more complicated. **

**The Doctor and Jack had heard the thinly veiled threat too, and the Doctor made as if he was going to stand up. Instantly Rak strode over to his chair and forcefully pushed him back down into the chair. **

**He glared at him, but did not try to get up again. Whatever happened next, the Doctor didn**If you cannot behave, I will be forced to take certain unpleasant measures. That is something none of us will enjoy, and I prefer to have people cooperate willingly, without me having to force them,t know how he would react to something like that. With their luck he would fly off the handle immediately. They didnOh, come on,Is all this really necessary? I mean, hes not as if we can go anywhere,Some security is always valuable. Besides, now we are guaranteed to not have any

**He nodded once at the six guards who had just poured into the room, and they harshly yanked up the three prisoners. Being accustomed to this sort of thing, Rose only froze for a second, startled before struggling to get free. she yelled, adding to the clamor of the others similarly shouting. The pounding in her head had been steadily growing, and her headache was made worse by the rough, jarring movements of the struggle. **

**The guards ignored their shouts, practically dragging them all out of the room. Suddenly, just before the men holding Jack reached the door, Jack thrust out an elbow into the gut of the man on the left, effectively winding him. When he doubled over, Jack wrenched his arm out of the other guards guards pulled a gun out of its holster and aimed it at Jack, cocking it. **

**Rose heard the Doctor shout. **

**Time seemed to slow down, yet everything happened in a flash. Rose heard the Doctor yell, frantically trying to calm him down, trying to stop him from pulling the trigger that would prove fatal; watched the guards best efforts; saw Jack stagger back a single step, staring down at the quickly darkening stain spreading across his chest. **

**Rose froze, no longer fighting, not able to process what had happened. Jack would be fine. She refused to believe otherwise. He couldnt believed her eyes when she woke up in the prison; surely he couldnt bring herself to think about it. **

**Rose felt horribly hollow inside, pain tearing at her from the inside, searing this moment into her mind forever. She was dimly aware of more shouting, and felt herself being dragged out of the room while Jack collapsed on the floor. The guard wrestled a struggling Rose out of the room before the door slammed shut with a clang, locking their friend**No! Jack! jaw, issuing forth a small grunt of pain.

s it! Toss me that tranquilizer, would you?No! You can do this** she trailed off, dizzy. Though the entire hallway seemed to be spinning, she was able to focus for a few seconds to see the Doctor. He was also stumbling, the drug starting to make its way through his system. **

**Dang it. Whatever drug had been given to them, he must not be immune. At least she was still thinking straight, for the most part. **

**But as the edges of her vision started to get foggier, she knew that wouldn **

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x**


End file.
